- Virtualisation Licensing for WS & WS R2 | Aidan Finn, IT Pro

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Windows server 2012 r2 standard virtualization licensing free.System Center 2012 R2 Licensing 

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Understanding the free Hyper‑V landscape — Versions and virtualization rights.Windows Server Licensing for Virtual Environments | Windows OS Hub

 

Starting from Windows Server , Microsoft has changed and simplified the licensing model of its server platform. Now it meets the modern tendencies to extensive use of virtualization technologies. In most cases, when considering the Windows Server licensing model, it is advisable to consider the Standard and Datacenter Windows Server editions.

The features of the Standard and Datacenter editions of Windows Server R2 is almost identical except for the license rights to run virtual machines. It means that you choose the edition depending only on the number of virtual machines on the physical host instead the availability of the required features.

In fact, when choosing Windows Server R2 Edition you need to decide whether you will use virtualization or not. Windows Server and Datacenter support a number of new technologies that are useful in a virtualization and the Azure cloud environment. For example, the Windows Server Datacenter supports:. One license of Windows Server R2 allows you to run the OS on one single- or dual-processor server. You cannot split one license for two single-processor servers in this case you will have to purchase two Windows Server licenses.

If a physical server has more than two processors, you will have to buy one license for each pair of processors. For example, for a 4-processor server you will need 2 Windows Server R2 licenses. Microsoft switched from the licensing model of physical processors to the core licensing model Core-based in Windows Server and Windows Server Note the main points of Windows Server and licensing model:.

If you plan to use your physical server as a hypervisor on which several VMs with the Windows Server are running, you need to choose the OS edition depending on the number of VMs that will be running on your server. For example, you have a dual processor server with total 16 cores.

If you purchased 8 licenses of Windows Server Standard and licensed all the physical server cores, you are allowed to run up to 2 VMs with a Windows Server on a licensed physical host. The Datacenter license allows you to run an unlimited number of virtual OSs on a licensed host. What if you need to run more than two virtual machines on a server with a Standard license?

You will have to buy the required number of licenses based on the following consideration: one Standard license allows you to run 2 virtual machines.

For example, you want to license a dual-processor 8 cores per CPU server with four virtual machines. According to the Windows Server Standard licensing model, you need to buy 16 dual-core Window Server Standard licenses 2 sets of licenses closing all physical cores or 8 dual-core Datacenter licenses you can upgrade Windows Server edition without reinstalling. Note that the licensing procedure is as follows: first the physical cores are covered, and then the virtual machine instances.

According to the current Microsoft prices, it is worth to buy the Windows Server Datacenter edition if you are going to run 14 or more virtual machines on one physical host. If you use virtualization on your physical server with Windows Server , you can use the host OS only to maintain and manage the Hyper-V role and virtual machines.

You cannot install Windows Server on a physical server, run two VMs on it and get three full-fledged Windows server instances for your tasks. Software Assurance SA provides the right to transfer the product license between physical hosts for most Microsoft server products. But Windows Server is an exception to this rule. According to the licensing agreement, the license can be migrated between the hosts once in 90 days. How to license a virtualization farm, in which VMs can move between hypervisors host OSs?

In this scenario, you will have to buy that number of licenses for each physical server covering the maximum number of virtual machines that can be run on it at any time including the high availability scenarios when all virtual machines of the farm are moved to the one of the hosts. In the case of the Datacenter edition, one set of licenses will be sufficient for each physical host, covering all cores in the minimum configuration, 8 Datacenter dual-core licenses.

Since this license allows you to run an unlimited number of VMs. Therefore, you should choose the Windows Server license depending on the maximum number of VMs on a single host. Below are some examples of calculating Windows Server licenses for physical hosts when using virtualization.

Example 1. There is a Hyper-V cluster of 5 hosts. Each server has 2 processors with 20 cores. Each will run 10 virtual machines. Because 5 servers are united into HA Hyper-V cluster, which means that up to 50 virtual machines can be running potentially on each host during VM migration failover. Accordingly, it is more profitable to purchase the Datacenter licenses. Example 2. The branch office has 1 server with 2 sockets with 4 cores each, on which 4 virtual machines are running.

How many Windows Server licenses do I need to purchase? The server has 8 cores. Under the terms of licensing — you need to cover at least 16 cores.

This will allow you to run 2 VMs. To run additional 2 VMs, you need to buy another set of core licenses. So if i have one VM in cluster of two nodes and fail happens VM migrates from first node to second host node. Do i need call MS and activate it with key from second node? How long will be grace period for VM on second node?

The virtual machine must be activated only once. When VM migrate to another host in cluster reactivation is not required. Windows Server restricted the maximum number of processors to 64, both for Standard and Datcenter editions.

Check the BIOS settings. If your server is virtual — check virtual hardware configuration. We are using Proxmox KWM installed on three server dual core. We have two phisicals server with one Windows R2 standard and one phisical server with Windows R2 standard. May you help me about license?

Microsoft Support have not helped me. Thanks for support. Is that right? You must purchase buy at least 8 such a licenses. Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. You can also subscribe without commenting.

Leave this field empty. Home About. These OSs have a number of specific limitations and no rights for virtualization. It should be noted that Web Server edition has been eliminated completely.

You do not need to consider licenses for virtual machines with non-Microsoft operating systems. Related Reading. June 7, June 6, June 1, Max July 20, - am The virtual machine must be activated only once. Leave a Comment Cancel Reply Notify me of followup comments via e-mail.

 

Windows server 2012 r2 standard virtualization licensing free.Windows Server 2012 licensing in virtual environments – simulation for smaller shops

  The one on the left has two standard licenses, while the two others do have three standard licenses. We need to buy 8 dual-core licenses for each server because it is not possible to buy less than 8 double-core licenses to license a physical server even if there are less than 16 cores. As a result, we need to buy an additional 16 double-core licenses for each server. We have been offered a solution by a vendor who r selling OEM licenses with the physical hosts. In fact, I would like to clear out some misunderstanding and do small simulation of price for small shops 2 physical hosts , when it comes to a number of VMs which needs to run, and also the number of physical hosts that are in the infrastructure. For example, you have a dual processor server with total 16 cores. For example, it is possible to run Essential edition of Server as virtual machine utilizing one of two available virtual instances in Standard edition as shown in the figure below.